The Museum of Ethnography is one of Europe's largest of its kind. Around 200 000 textiles, ceramics, and pieces of furniture are held alongside the collection of crafts and religious artifacts in the Hungarian and international sections, covering almost every corner of the world.

The permanent exhibition 'Folk Culture of the Hungarians' shows life of the peasants living in Hungarian-speaking areas between the late 18th century and the First World War.

13 rooms display the finest festive national costumes, tools of farming and hand crafts, the changing interior of the houses, traditions of both everyday life and holidays, objects of the village institutions, and the finest objects of folk art. The costumes of Sárköz, the working clothes of the peasants, the cifraszűr (long, embroidered shepherd's coat) maker's workshop, the decorative ceramics, the painted furniture, and the wedding ceremony scene from Kalotaszeg are worth particular note.
Beside its permanent exhibitions, the museum organises 20 temporary exhibitions every year.

The building itself is also worthy of attention; this eclectic palace, designed by Alajos Hauszmann, was finished in 1896. Und until 1949 it housed the Supreme Court.

Educational lectures, screenings and activities for children are held here regularly. The museum puts together special programmes for tourist groups. Guided tours are available upon booking.

The public Ethnographic Documents Department holds 2 million 540 thousand pages of manuscripts, half a million photograph negatives and nearly 112 thousand metres of movie film. In the folk music library there are more than 174 thousand minutes of recordings and 5000 phonograph cylinders. The library, which is open to visitors, holds around 163 thousand books and periodicals.